Monday, December 31, 2007

Today's LaughI'm sure you've all seen the dramatic prairie dog on YouTube by now. If not, check it out; it's hilarious (and it's only about 5 seconds). This video has been parodied and remixed probably more than anything else this year, and some brilliant Lost fan went and put together an awesome one. Check it out here, or click Play below:

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Oceanic Airlines Press ReleaseThe marketing types over at ABC have issued a press release stating that Oceanic Airlines will be back in business as of December 31, 2007 (thanks for the heads up, Chris!) You can go here to see their little commercial for the airline, and download the following press release (by the way, I tried the phone number at the bottom out of curiosity, and it goes to "Georgia's" voice mail, telling you to leave your name and number and she'll get back to you. I didn't bother, because I'm assuming she won't, but if someone else wants to try and see what happens, I'd love to find out if she does!):

December 28, 2007

OCEANIC AIRLINES ANNOUNCES ITS RETURN TO THE AIRWAYS“TAKING YOU PLACES YOU NEVER IMAGINED”

Flights Begin December 31 To Nine Markets

Oceanic Airlines announced today their return to the airways. Beginning December 31, operations and flights to nine markets will resume, “Taking You Places You Never Imagined.” Destinations include:

“We are very eager to resume flying and apologize for any inconvenience our temporary closure may have caused our loyal customers,” said Michael Orteig, President, Oceanic Airlines. “Oceanic Airlines is proud to be a top tier flight provider and looks forward to providing travelers with many more years of unparalleled service.”

About Oceanic AirlinesIn business for over 25 years, Oceanic Airlines is a major airline carrier and offers the highest caliber of service for international and domestic flights. Destinations include Los Angeles, London, Sydney and South Korea.###Oceanic Airlines Contact:Georgia Cavanagh (818) 460-5520

Thursday, December 27, 2007

So says Detective Bunk in the opening moments of the fifth season of HBO’s mindblowing series, The Wire, which begins on January 6. And in saying it, he sums up what this season is all about.

I’ve talked about The Wire on here many times before, and have been urging my readers to check it out because it is, without a doubt, the smartest show on television. And definitely one of the greatest shows ever made. I can say that without hyperbole, because I’m not the only one (every time Entertainment Weekly writes up an episode, they call it the best show EVER). To repeat myself, the first season was about the corners and the drug trade in West Baltimore, one of the most dangerous spots in North America, and how the police tried to put a wire tap into one of the drug towers to catch the goons, only to get caught up in bureaucratic red tape. Season 2 relocated to the docks, showing how the drugs get into the country and how, even when the cops are onto the importers, they can’t stop what’s happening. Season 3 moved back to the drug stuff, when a new honcho shows up, and it showed us what happens when the drug traffickers become educated, applying college-level economics to the trade, and making exponentially more sums of money. Season 4 was groundbreaking, and moved back a step to show how the kids who end up slinging the drugs on the corner are pretty much trapped before they’re 10 years old. By focusing on the lousy school system, and how the mayoral, senatorial, and gubernatorial levels are all failing these kids, we watch as bright young minds end up jaded, hardened, and broken. Season 5 takes everything we’ve learned to this point, and shows us that when a couple of people step forward to tell the biggest lies they can come up with, only then can the system appear to work. Sort of.

McNulty is back. He’s drinking again, and is the hateful sonofabitch that he was in the first couple of seasons (i.e. the way we like him). The crimes unit has been disbanded (again), Freamon is trying to get a wiretap going (again), the newly appointed mayor is finding his hands are tied (again) and those kids that we watched grow up last season are back. And what they’ve turned into ain’t pretty. Throughout season 4 we got to know them on a deep level, and watched them struggle against junkie parents, a school system that didn’t care about them, and one by one they began to show us there may be hope for the future. These kids always thought they were destined to end up on the streets, but when Prez, a former cop, shows up as a teacher and tries to show them there are other options, they begin to listen. But no matter how many options they think they might have, and how many streams of light fight their way through the dark clouds of their futures, something’s always there to tear them down. Maybe they need money to feed their younger siblings. Maybe they have parents stealing their school uniforms to sell on the streets for more junk. Maybe the cops have failed them by using them for information, and then letting it get out onto the streets that they’re snitches. One by one, we watch them fall, and now they’re back. (There’s one kid in particular that I became very attached to, and when he finally surfaces in the sixth episode as a very different person, I almost cried.)

Carcetti is the new mayor, and season 4 ended with him declaring it a “new day,” but as season 5 begins, we see it’s the same day, same “shiiiiiiiit,” as Clay Davis would put it. Davis has been exposed, but of course the detectives have yet to put together a tight case against him to make sure he goes down for what he’s been doing all these years.

Marlo is still running the show, after Omar (one of my all-time favourite TV characters) stole a ton of money from him and took off at the end of season 4. (Omar is the Robin Hood of the series – he steals from the drug dealers, and gives to himself.) But when Marlo messes with someone Omar trusted, the man with the giant facial scar returns, and what a return it is.

Murders continue to happen throughout the city. Chris and Snoop’s trail of blood, lye, and nails from the previous season that left dozens of dead bodies in the boarded-up houses, has yet to be solved. The cops are working overtime and all they have to show for it are slips of paper that say they’ve been working the overtime. The mayor’s office is promising them the money, the lieutenants are telling them to continue working and they’ll see the money, and the cops are trying to turn them in at the bars for 50 cents on the dollar. But even the bartenders know those slips of paper are worthless. Meanwhile, Freamon knows he was this close to nabbing Marlo, but his crimes unit has been disbanded. The cops’ hands are tied, and the people have no idea that these murders are happening.

So… McNulty has a plan. He’s going to create a serial killer. He begins to put a few cases together, throws in some fake evidence that links the cases together, and voila – there’s a serial killer stalking the homeless.

We’ve seen how the drug business is affected – for better or worse – by the police, by the mayor’s office, by the schools, by the longshoremen, and by the higher-ups in government, but this season we’re introduced to the level that we, as civilians, are most used to: the newspapers. The Baltimore Sun comes in as a major character (Wire creator David Simon is a former Sun reporter ). My husband is a newspaper reporter, and was working at one of the national newspapers here at the height of the hirings (of junior, cheap reporters) and firings (of the seasoned, contact-heavy, senior, more expensive reporters). He says he's never seen a show portray the newspaper business so accurately. There are moments where someone says something in this newsroom and he can name the reporter who said it in his.

Augustus is the editor in the city section, reporting on crimes that are never solved, and watching as day after day his city seems to be sinking into a mire of hellishness that is going nowhere. Circulation numbers are down, and the papers are all being run by white, upper-class publishers who want sensational news on the front, and want to bury the real stories of the streets that we've been watching for the first four seasons. When a triple-homicide happens in the slums, the story is buried. When a white woman is mugged in the parking lot of a middle-class area grocery store, it makes headlines. Templeton, a junior reporter, comes in during cutbacks (one of the best examples of the current state of newspapering is when Templeton doesn't have a clue who anyone is, and the senior reporter who's just been sacked calls in to city hall and sweet-talks his way into the real story, since he's the guy with all the contacts) and when the stories run dry and Templeton has no idea what he’s doing when asked to do the “man on the street” portion of the features, decides he’s going to Stephen Glass his way to the top.

Unwittingly, he plays into McNulty’s plan, and the result is a brilliant glimpse at how the various levels of officialdom are useless to solve a REAL case, but when a phony one comes their way – and the media are raising the fake case’s profile to create a public outcry – all levels band together to form a crime unit with unlimited amounts of cash to bring in the serial killer. No one seems to care whether or not the guy exists anymore. It's all about the story.

The first half of the season is genius, and if you adore this show as much as I do, I can guarantee you there’s been no decline in the quality of writing, acting, or direction. For four years we’ve watched the kids get roped into the drug trade, the drug dealers warring against each other, the detectives trying to bring down the kingpins while only being able to put away the occasional dealer, the mayor trapped between people who want change and a corrupt government that wants to maintain the status quo for their own greedy means. Now it looks like things might change.

But as with every season, we’re always shown the glimmer of hope, and in the end it all comes back around, and begins again.

Will Marlo finally get caught? Will Snoop and Chris have to pay for everything they did? Will Duquie manage to escape this life? Will Omar find his revenge? Will McNulty get caught?

And most of all, who will be the new drug kingpin who will be the target of the next generation of wiretapping?

I’ve said it before, but forgive my broken recordness – buy or rent the first 4 seasons of this show, and tune in to season 5. If you’re not watching The Wire, you’re missing out on the best example of what television should be. I’ve bitched before about the season finale of Heroes, and Tim Kring shot back that we were asking for too much, and that television has its limits. He should have been watching The Wire, because if he had, he’d see that the writing, acting, and directing on this series would make movie producers jealous. This is the finest storytelling around.

For a preview of the season and some previews of how they'll be handling the journalism angle, go here and click on "The Wire: The Last Word" for a half-hour documentary.

In Canada, The Wire airs Sundays at 8 p.m. PT on Movie Central and 9 p.m. ET on The Movie Network, beginning January 6th. The Wire airs on HBO in the U.S.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

The Lost Trailer -- The Extended VersionOK, guys, THIS is the ultimate trailer, the sort of thing you'd see in a movie theatre (Thank you, Roland!!) Watch it, and squee with glee. It sent chills down my spine, seriously.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Lost Trailer, Parti DeuxThanks to Adi for pointing me in the direction of this link. Someone has taken the season 4 trailer and sloooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwed it doooooooowwwwwwwwn so we can see every moment, every flash, and to be honest, there were moments that sent chills down my spine. Creepy...

Topics for discussion (oh come on, I'm in total Lost withdrawal here and I'll discuss ANYTHING in grave detail!). Stop reading now if you don't want to watch the trailer:-Is Hurley the new island hunter? We see him running through the woods, peering through a slat that appears to be Jacob's cabin, and... I think... Jacob seems to peer back at him through a hole (AAH! That's the part that freaked me out), and he's underwater and finds a Hydra station decal-Charlie's there, and he's got really short hair, so it's not a clip from before. It's probably a dream sequence (he appears to be talking to Hurley) in the same way Boone appeared to Locke, but if so, it always irks me that their hair doesn't look the same as these characters would have known them. Dominic Monaghan might have shorn his locks, but Hurley wouldn't have known him that way. Then again, the alternative is a crappy wig, so maybe I can swallow that nitpick.-there's an arm slowly bleeding, which is freaky-uh, why is there a COW on the island? To whom is the cow going to mean something? Could it be part of a flash forward?-in fact, were any of the scenes we saw parts of flash forwards? Does Charlie have a closely-cropped twin that Hurley will run into in the future? (har har)-Locke's staring at someone (dead? sleeping?) on the ground that we haven't seen before

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Lost Season 4 Trailer!!!This was just sent to me by a reader (thanks, Sarah!) and WOW, it's exciting! And can someone verify for me, but is there a certain familiar face that flashes near the end, who... shouldn't be there? I won't say any more for anyone who doesn't want to check it out. (But I'd suggest you check it out!!) I am SO excited!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Where, Oh Where, Has My Time Gone?Sorry y'all. I didn't mean to wander away from my blog, but with putting together dozens of Christmas cards, doing Christmas shopping, running a million errands and taking care of an infant, I haven't had a lot of time. Add to that the infant is now on a great sleeping schedule, but one that works only if the television isn't on during the day (WHAT?!) and it means I haven't been able to watch as much TV as I'd like (which, I know, is too much).

This is just a quickie to say I have lots to say about the continually amazing Friday Night Lights (which has 15 episodes in the can, so unlike a lot of other shows, it will be showing new eps in the new year). And I LURVE Pushing Daisies still (how awesome was Molly Shannon last week?)

Here's a quick interview with Carlton Cuse revealing something the writers are going to be doing in the fourth season, which should come as no surprise to anyone who's seen season 3.

I have seen the finale of Dexter (which airs this Sunday on Showtime in the U.S. and TMN in Canada at 10pm) and it is so great. Last night's episode ended with such a major cliffhanger, leading me to speculate many things... some of which came true, some which didn't. Tune in next week and let me know what you think. In the meantime, check out this interview with Michael C. Hall. And someone get that man an award.

I just finished Heroes, and have lots to say about it as well (I'm behind on Heroes... now you know it's bad).

Anyway, I hope to be back to regular posting very soon. Sorry for the shoddy work! :)

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Angel: After the FallThe Buffy Season 8 comic book series has been a smashing success, and now IDW has begun Angel Season 6. Frankly, I had mixed emotions about "Chosen," the Buffy series finale. But I thought the Angel finale was pure genius, amazing from beginning to end. Some fans were upset about the ending, suggesting it was a cliffhanger that was meant to string fans along and not give us a resolution. But I loved it, and for me, the characters who are still standing in the final moments of the series will be the ones running into battle for all of eternity.

Now, we get a glimpse of one possibility of how it all could have gone down. Joss has said these comic books could be considered canon, and if that's the case, season 6 of Angel would have been one very, very, VERY dark season. This comic is dark, bleak, scary, and, to be honest, a little confusing. I had to read certain pages over and over to try to follow the action. Several of our favourite characters are back. Just as Buffy season 8 began in Buffy's head with her narrating the action for us, this one is in Angel's.

Oh, and Angel's final line of the television series -- "Personally, I want to slay the dragon. Let's go to work" -- is addressed in the opening pages.

I don't want to spoil the comic for those who haven't read it, but I'll definitely recommend it. Hey, it's the Whedonverse, how could I not? I do want to say one thing (and it's very positive) about the comic (I'll put it in white, and you can highlight it to read it):

Wesley is back, and anyone who has read my Angel book Once Bitten will know that I adored that character more than any of Whedon's others. I loved his development from kooky slapstick doofus to dark, serious, depressed, and troubled man. I thought his arc was handled beautifully, and when he died, my heart broke in two. So in this comic, when he first pops up in hell, all I could think of was, after everything that happened to him, this is where he ended up. He died and went to hell. And it was like a weight the size of an elephant was sitting on my chest to think that. Wesley just wanted peace, but now we know he'll never have it. Wah. That saddened me to no end... but probably in a good way, since if there's one thing Whedon can do, it's bring us serious, serious pain.

The series is only overseen by Whedon, and actually written by Brian Lynch. Lynch does a pretty good job, and I'm definitely intrigued enough by this convoluted first book to want to know what happens, and to know the backstory of how all these characters got here. The next book is due out mid-December, and it features that character we've all been waiting for. You know who I mean.

Mostly, I write about television, and with this being the home of the Great Buffy Rewatch of 2011, a lot of that television is Joss Whedon-related (when it's not about Lost). Stick around if you love Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Sherlock, Lost, BtVS, Doctor Who, or anything on HBO.

About Me

I've published companion guides to Xena, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Alias, and Lost through ECW Press, and my latest book is "Finding Lost — Season Six: The Unofficial Guide." Currently, I love Revenge, Community, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead... actually, pretty much everything on HBO or AMC.

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The Great Buffy Rewatch!

Welcome to the home of the Great Buffy Rewatch of 2011, where every Tuesday night we convened to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer from season 1 to the end. I was joined by over 25 guest commentators and Buffy scholars who helped me lead you through the watch, offering non-spoilery discussion for the new watchers as well as spoiler-filled discussions for the rewatchers. The entire Rewatch can be found in the archives here, listed by week and contributor. Go here for the full 2011 schedule, and here to see the list of amazing contributors. And be sure to pick up my book, Bite Me, a complete episode by episode guide to the series!